Fiber board is conventionally manufactured from a blend of fiber material and suitable binding agents which are processed through a forming device and placed, as a relatively thick web, onto a forming wire. The web is then heated and pressed in either a single or a plurality of steps until the desired final product is obtained. The quality of the fiber board depends upon a number of factors, none the least of which is the uniformity of fiber distribution in the non-woven web placed on the forming wire.
One conventional method of determining the uniformity of fiber distributions involves the weighing of the web prior to the final heating and pressing operations which result in a finished fiber board. However, because the weighing operation has been carried out at the end of the preliminary formation step, the board material must be removed from the forming wire, weighed, and then transported to a pressing operation. In the meantime, a substantial amount of non-uniform board has been produced, all of which must be discarded or recycled. Additional non-uniform fiber board results during the time between the detection of the non-uniformity and the accurate translation of this information into corrective action. Thus, the delays in adjustment of the distribution of fibers in the prefinished fiber board are caused, in substantial part, by the distance that the distribution determining device is located from the point at which fiber board is formed and the lack of an adequate feedback mechanism to efficiently deal with the problems of a continuous system.
Therefore, there remains a need for a device and a methodology which will eliminate these delays in adjusting the distribution of fibers in the web with their resulting formation of substantial amounts of non-uniform fiber board.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for continuously weighing a web during formation thereof in such a way as to minimize the distance between the point at which the web is weighed and the point of formation thereof, thereby eliminating both weighing delays and the large quantities of non-uniform fiber board material resulting therefrom.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a device for continuously weighing a web during the formation thereof which includes an effective system for rapidly correcting the non-uniformity of fiber board in a continuous manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for weighing fiber board, continuously, during its manufacture in such a way as to promote uniformity.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for the continuous weighing of webs during the manufacture of fiber board wherein fiber distribution information from a weighing device is rapidly transmitted to a forming device thus minimizing the delay in adjusting fiber distribution.